PoK & Gilgit-Baltistan Are Part Of India: Islamic Body Tells Govt

On 26 March, the Chairman of Anjuman Minhaj-e-Rasool, Moulana Syed Athar Hussain Dehlavi has urged the Central government to bring a resolution reiterating the 1994 Parliament declaration that PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan are part of India.

Dehlavi said that passing the resolution would foil the designs of Pakistan to make Gilgit-Baltistan its province.

Also Read: Gilgit-Baltistan: A Story of Ambiguity and Oblivion

On 23 March, the British Parliament saw a motion tabled, which slammed Pakistan’s move to name Gilgit-Baltistan as its fifth province. The motion put its weight behind India’s claim that the Gilgit-Baltistan is legally a part of Jammu & Kashmir.

The motion added that the disputed region is under illegal occupation by Pakistan since 1947.

Gilgit-Baltistan is a legal and constitutional part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India, which is illegally occupied by Pakistan since 1947, and where people are denied their fundamental rights including the right of freedom of expression. Motion passed in the British Parliament

Pakistani labourers work at a construction site in Gilgit in August 2015. (Photo: IANS)

Pakistan’s Move To Annex Gilgit-Baltistan

The motion, tabled in the British Parliament on 23 March by the Conservative Party’s Bob Blackman, comes on the back of Pakistan declaring the strategic Gilgit-Baltistan region as its fifth province, ANI reported.

Rejecting Pakistan’s claims, the motion allegd that the move was an “attempt to annex the disputed area.”

It also termed it as an attempt to change the demography of the region, while also slamming Pakistan for the ‘forced and illegal construction’ of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which further aggravates and interferes with the situation in the disputed territory.

Pakistani labourers work at a construction site in Gilgit in August 2015. (Photo: IANS)

China’s Concerns Behind Pakistan’s Move

It is believed that China’s concerns about the stability of Gilgit-Baltistan prompted Pakistan to name it as its newest province. Stability in the region, which has been under Pakistani occupation since the partition, is crucial to the future of the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

However, reports suggest the residents of Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmiri (PoK) have shown displeasure over the construction of the corridor claiming that it has failed to provide any tangible benefits to the residents of the area, and instead turned out to be just another exercise for selfish economic gain of Pakistan and China.